1.3 Defining a Socially Resilient City

Social resilience within a city is often under-estimated as its effects are not always easy to quantify. This is because we do not immediately feel or see the impact of it. It is often a slower decay rather than a sudden failure, with subtle warning signs which are difficult to identify.

The importance of social resilience is most evident when it is absent during a time of crisis. Eric Klinenberg’s book “Heat Wave”8 highlights the importance of social resilience during an extreme weather event. Within the book, he investigates the Chicago heat wave of 1995 where 739 people perished.(fig.2) When comparing two neighbourhoods with similar demographics, he noted that there were more than double the deaths per 100,000 in one compared with the other. This statistic rang true for much of the rest of the city – neighbourhoods which were similar ‘on paper’, had huge disparities in the numbers of casualties. Chicago officials quickly jumped to put the deaths down to lack of social capital, even going as far as to blame people of the neighbourhoods who suffered the most casualties for not helping their fellow neighbours. Kilnenberg opposes this, pointing out that there are no moral differences between neighbourhoods. It was in fact a lack of physical conditions and places which promote people developing strong supportive connections which lead to isolation and abandonment of the neighbourhoods which suffered the greatest loss of life. He coins these places of “social infrastructure”.9

Klinenberg, having identified the dramatic impact of social infrastructure in an epidemic situation, stipulated that it must transcend beyond just heat and health. How deep are these systems to all aspects of collective society? This is what he sought out to answer in the book “Places for People: How to build a more equal and united society”. He points out at the beginning of the book that we are at a point where the climate emergency, the pandemic and the digital era are fragmenting our physical societies around the world. Even the internet, which was advertised as the epitome of democracy and communication has changed to an echo-chamber where you only hear what you want to listen to. “Our social glue has unstuck”10 Using this research by Eric Klinenberg, we can define a resilient city as one which creates physical spaces which generate social capital, promote well-being and are inclusivity for its citizens. All of which encourage a society which is able to respond, adapt and recover from a change.

Figure 2: News excerpts from ‘Heat Wave’ by Eric Klinenberg